A supply chain may include a system composed of business organizations, personnel, technology, activities, information, and resources, involved in moving materials from one point to another. A typical supply chain may include nodes, as well as links connecting those nodes. The nodes may represent physical locations that materials may pass through while flowing through the supply chain. The links may represent transportation channels used to deliver the materials between the nodes.
Numerous transactions may be performed on the materials during their movements through the nodes and links of the supply chain. Examples of transactions may include scanning, storing, picking, and loading. As the number of transactions increases, the supply chain may become increasingly inefficient. In order to minimize inefficiencies, and thus, keep down costs associated with moving the materials, and keep the materials moving through the supply chain quickly, businesses may try to design and implement efficient pathways for moving materials through the supply chain.
At least one system has been developed for planning routes for moving materials through a supply chain. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,212,976 to Scheer (“Scheer”) discloses using an electronic system and method for selecting a fulfillment plan for moving items within a supply chain. In Scheer, to select the fulfillment plan, a list of alternative fulfillment plans for moving an item within the supply chain is constructed. The constructed alternative fulfillment plans are evaluated against a predetermined criteria, and the constructed alternative fulfillment plan that most closely meets the predetermined criteria is selected for implementation to position the item within the supply chain for use in meeting the order. When constructing the list of alternative fulfillment plans, one or more of the following is considered: a customer specified point of delivery; a customer specified delivery date; various combinations of sourcing points within the supply chain; customer specified consolidation requirements; activity costs; inventory age; and a customer specified price quote. However, Scheer's system and method may not take into account other factors that could help in reducing the inefficiencies in the supply chain. Moreover, Scheer's system and method focus mainly on selecting a fulfillment plan for moving material through the supply chain when, in some instances, it may be beneficial to change the design of the supply chain itself.
The system and method of the present disclosure is directed towards overcoming one or more of the constraints set forth above.